The 13th Valley Character Analysis

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Change the Inevitable The 13th Valley by John Del Vecchio has a unique feature in the prologue. It is a tall teak tree on top of a knoll surrounded by a river. The journey to this tree is symbolized as the inevitability of change. The teak tree itself symbolizes the enlightenment one gets because of change. The river represents the change in one’s attitude. The valley and the knoll represent challenges. Change is a constant in life, because without it, nothing can exist. In the experience of living life there must be something that is always becoming different. Change is inevitable; it brings challenges, and it awards enlightenment. Throughout the book, the inevitability of change is seen by the journey to the tree. In this journey, characters …show more content…

In the novel, these challenges are represented as the valley and the knoll. According to Artemidorus, the author of The Interpretation of Dreams, the valley represents, “sorrows, fears, or disturbances for all men” (108). This is seen in The 13th valley, when the character named Willis, or nicknamed Numbnuts, has a big fear of fighting in the war. His fear of fighting is discovered when “Cherry finds out that he never fired his weapon, which if he fired, he could have saved lives” (553).As a consequence, “Cherry punches him in the face....The nose bleeds, eyes blacken… Numbnuts is vanquished and defeated” (Del Vecchio 553-554). Not only has the valley represented challenges, but also the …show more content…

Once across the event horizon, the point of no return, nothing can escape the inevitable fate ahead. John Del Vecchio did a phenomenal job of illustrating the power of change in his book. He did this by making his book an allegory of what change can do to any living or nonliving thing. Throughout his book, the properties of change are seen as inevitable and challenging. However, some characters adapted to change and were rewarded with wisdom or survived the war. Change did not care if the characters or places were transformed into something horrible. Instead, it only cared if they evolved into another

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